


If you’d like

by jomipay



Series: Teach me how to love you [1]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: First Dates, First Kiss, M/M, Pre-Relationship, airship cruise of love, drinking mead and playing cards, post the 174 incident, the airship - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:33:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28055442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jomipay/pseuds/jomipay
Summary: Oscar plans an impromptu date night of sorts for Zolf.Rating kind of between a T and M, went with M to be safe!“Wilde, are you asking me on a date?”Zolf’s tone is teasing, and he can hear the smile in his voice.Oscar chuckles and leans back. “If you like.”He tries for a coy smile but knows that he misses, he can feel the stretch of it in his cheeks.
Relationships: Zolf Smith/Oscar Wilde
Series: Teach me how to love you [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055096
Comments: 10
Kudos: 75





	If you’d like

**Author's Note:**

> They are so good and they deserve good things.

Oscar has a bottle of mead stashed in his cabin. Azu had traded a few of her marbles to get it for him, leveling him with a sly, knowing look as she passed it to him and asking, “Date night?” 

He doesn’t answer her, instead thanking her and resolutely not allowing his cheeks to flush and betray his nonchalance. He saves it until the third night they’re back in the air. They’ve fallen back into routines and shifts and Oscar knows Zolf usually takes the second of the night shifts. Strong and calloused hands on the wheel in the deepest part of the night, keeping them on course while almost everyone else slumbers. 

Oscar sits next to Zolf at dinner. He enjoys the way Zolf’s eyes crinkle when he smiles. He pushes the last few bits of food around on his plate as he plucks up the courage. He takes a deep breath, and asks.

“If you um, if you wanted to have a drink, or something, after your shift,” he catches Azu over Zolf’s shoulder whipping her head around to look at him with poorly concealed glee and that, of all things, is what makes the heat rise to his cheeks, “I have something I think you might like.” Zolf smiles at him, and blinks slowly, and Oscar is enraptured by his face, by how beautiful it is, by how much he’s willing to do to put that same smile on it again and again.

He’s lost his train of thought. “If you wanted to come by my cabin,” Azu’s eyebrows nearly shoot off her head and Oscar blusters, “no, no it’s just that’s a good place for a drink and we could, erm, we could play cards?” It’s enough to make Zolf turn around to Azu looking decidedly anywhere but in their direction. 

When he turns back and fixes his gaze on Oscar his eyes are teasing and full of mirth. He leans in close, and drops his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, gesturing for Oscar to lean in closer to better hear the low words. Oscar can feel Zolf’s breath against his neck and he only just manages to suppress the shiver it inspires. 

“Wilde, are you asking me on a date?”

Zolf’s tone is teasing, and he can hear the smile in his voice. 

Oscar chuckles and leans back. “If you like.” 

He tries for a coy smile but knows that he misses, he can feel the stretch of it in his cheeks.  _ Please say that you’d like. _ Zolf pretends to give the matter appropriate consideration, stroking his beard ponderously. 

“Suppose I would like, then.” 

“Then it’s a date.” Oscar croaks and he knows he’s grinning like a loon.

  
  


Oscar flits about his small cabin tidying what little there is to tidy and with a mind to get a little bit of sleep in. He actually straightens the piles of papers on the stack of crates and pallets that make up his desk and faffs about with his quills, arranging and rearranging them until he becomes aware that the task is doing nothing to soothe his nervous excitement. He lies in his bunk. There’s too much energy buzzing around in his veins and through his head for him to doze. He shifts to his side and curls, glancing around the room for something to occupy his time with, and he finds a small stack of Campbell’s pushed under his desk. He retrieves one, and settles under the covers with it. He’s read it before, and that helps because he doesn’t have to focus so resolutely on the words. He can allow his mind to wander, and eventually it calms him enough that he drifts pleasantly in and out of consciousness. 

He stands and straightens his clothing a while later. He elects to journey above decks rather than wait for Zolf. It’s colder above decks, and that would have bothered him before, but it’s comfortable enough now, whatever residual effects there are from the ritual make him at home in the colder weather. The moon is only a sliver in the sky and it is obscured slightly by a haze. Zolf gives him a broad smile when he sees him and it warms him more thoroughly than anything else could. 

“Going to escort me to our date then?”

Zolf looks at ease at the helm, one hand on the wheel, shoulders relaxed and the corners of his lips upturned.

“It’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”

Zolf snickers as Oscar comes to stand next to him. He nudges him with an elbow.

“And you’ve a reputation for being such a gentleman.”

Oscar affects a scandalized expression. “Why, Mr. Smith, I’m not sure  _ what _ you’ve heard,” Zolf rolls his eyes fondly and Oscar fights to keep the smile out of his voice, “but I think you’ll find that I am absolutely a perfect gentleman, especially where you’re concerned.”

Zolf eyes him critically before waggling his eyebrows and Oscar breaks, laughter bubbling out of him and into the night in clouds of steam. 

Barnes is the one that comes to relieve Zolf. He only looks surprised to see Oscar for the barest moment before they all exchange pleasantries and control of the helm changes hands. Zolf nudges him with an elbow again as they make it below decks, clearing his throat pointedly and offering an arm.

“Oh, pardon me but where are my manners,” the height difference is too great for them to link arms. Oscar takes a deep breath and takes the hand of Zolf’s proffered arm in his own, hoping the contact isn’t unwelcome. Zolf’s breath hitches slightly, but he squeezes Oscar’s hand and the worry melts away.

He leads Zolf into his cabin and reveals the bottle of mead. He offers Zolf a glass and delights at the expression that comes across Zolf’s face as he tastes it. 

Oscar sits on his bunk and Zolf follows, passing over the stack of crates serving as his desk chair in favor of joining Oscar on his bunk.

“Good?”

Zolf grunts softly, examining the bottle.

“Yeah, good. It’s really good.”

Oscar puts his own glass of the deep burnt orange liquid to his lips. It tastes of tart berries, the kind that might grow in the far north, and honey. It's strong, warming his stomach as he swallows it..

They chat for a while before Oscar breaks the cards out and they start up a game of Old Maid. 

“No cheating.” Zolf says as Oscar deals.

Oscar only smirks in response. Oscar wins the first game and Zolf does accuse him of cheating in a teasing way. They each drink another glass of mead and Zolf wins the next two games. 

Oscar is flushed, both from the alcohol and from laughing. Zolf pauses before dealing their next round, staring at him with an expression Oscar can’t quite place.

“What?” Oscar asks, taking his cards from Zolf and allowing their fingers to brush.

“Just looks good on you, is all.”

Oscar’s cheeks ache for all the smiling he’s been doing and he feels the flare of yet more blood filling them. Oscar loses this game as well and he throws his last unmatched card down dramatically.

“Perhaps I should have cheated after all.”

Zolf scoots closer to him and fists a hand in his shirt lapels, an action Oscar is becoming more and more familiar with of late. Zolf’s eyes find his lips and remain there, tracing them as he grunts softly.

“C’mere.” And then he pulls Oscar the rest of the way down and their lips meet for a slow, tender kiss. Oscar makes a small surprised sound that transforms into one of unmistakable pleasure. They part and Oscar immediately wants another kiss. This is everything he’s ever wanted, and he’s never had the time to figure out that this exact thing is precisely what makes his heart race and ache in all the best ways. He’s nervous, he’s so unbearably nervous that he’s actually shaking with it. 

Zolf loosens his grip on Oscar’s shirt and pulls away, covering one of Oscar’s shaking hands with his own. 

“You okay?”

Oscar bites his bottom lip and nods. “More than.”

Zolf rubs a hand up and down one of Oscar’s arms. “Are you cold?”

Oscar laughs. “No, no I’m actually quite comfortable. I’m just,” he hesitates and grins, amused by his own ridiculousness, “I’m just nervous.”

Zolf leans forward again, sliding a hand into Oscar’s hair as he bends slightly to meet him. This kiss starts just as softly, but builds slowly in depth and heat. Zolf’s lips are warm and dry against his and they feel so utterly perfect. His heart is hammering in his chest so hard and so loudly that Zolf must be able to hear it. His nerves begin to melt away as Zolf’s lips move more firmly against his own. Every press and slide of lips is sending little shocks of emotion through his brain and he is delirious with how right it feels. 

Zolf swipes his tongue across Oscar’s bottom lip and Oscar immediately opens against him, immediately acquiesces to the request to deepen the kiss with a groan and eager swipe of his tongue against Zolf’s. Zolf shifts, tucking his legs under himself and moving to straddle Oscar’s lap and Oscar helps him, pulling him closer with a hand on the back of his neck. Oscar can feel the hard unyielding press of Zolf’s prostheses framing his thighs, and that feels right, too. He places a hand on one of Zolf’s hips, enjoying the feeling of solid muscle beneath layers of clothing, and the other he places on Zolf’s neck, splaying his fingers to feel his pulse and the delicate pull of muscles working as they tangle their tongues together.

He is delighted to find that Zolf is an excellent kisser. They respond well to each other, taking in what makes the others breath hitch, what makes them groan and make soft little noises of pleasure spill from the back of their throat. For Oscar, it’s when Zolf shifts his body against him, when he moves his calloused hand against the smooth and delicate skin of his neck, when their lips press and move fervently together like they cannot possibly get enough of each other. For Zolf, it’s the nip of Oscar’s teeth against his lips, the slide of their tongues, and the tightening of Oscar’s grip on his hip. 

Oscar is hard, of course he is. It’s been ages since he’s had so much contact, and even longer since he’s been touched like this by someone he feels so much for. But he doesn’t want to do anything about it. He doesn’t want this moment to be a preamble to anything more than it is. He wants to luxuriate in this careful exploration of each other precisely as it is. He lies back, pulling Zolf down on top of him. Zolf mouths over his jaw, down his neck and finds a nice tender spot to nibble and suck that makes Oscar squirm. 

They’re panting in the moments they pull briefly apart for air before melding their mouths together again, drinking down all the sounds, reveling in the press of the other’s body and lips. The kiss gradually loses its heat and urgency until it’s nothing but soft presses of lips and it comes to a natural end, with both of them smiling softly at each other with red and swollen lips.

Zolf shifts off of him and onto his side. They lay on their sides, facing each other as they catch their breath, each with an arm in the space between them. Zolf reaches out, caressing Oscar’s hand before intertwining their fingers. They stay like that, curled comfortably towards each other on their sides, and Oscar notices Zolf’s slow blinks and the heaviness of his eyelids. 

“You can stay, if you’d like. I mean I would like that...very much.”

Zolf blinks, drifting back momentarily into a more conscious state, lips slowly spreading into a smile.

“Yeah, alright. You promise not to kick me?”

Oscar’s heart leaps. He shifts to pull the covers down and Zolf mirrors him.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

They curl together under the covers, and Zolf intertwines their fingers again, giving the knuckles of Oscar’s hand a quick kiss before turning into him and resting his head in the space between Oscar’s shoulder and neck. Oscar’s not sure which of them is the first to fall asleep, but when he wakes, they are tangled together and he is happier than he thinks he has any right to be.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Oscar being nervous because he likes Zolf so much and it just makes me soft. Thank you so much for reading! 🖤


End file.
